Twenty-three aspiring Egyptian press firms have filed applications to set up shop following a Higher Constitutional Court ruling on Sunday that opened the way for the establishment of private newspapers.

The government had previously relied on Companies Law amendments, which the court has ruled must be abolished, to block the foundation of the new companies. Only two papers had been licensed before the court’s decision.

Among the newcomers, according to a report by th eopoosition daily Al Ahali, is a paper to be headed by opposition Nasserist MP Hamdeedn Sabahi, another by Ayman Nour, a Wafd Party dissident, and a third by the Centrist Islamic Party’s founder, Abu Ola Madi Wakeel – Albawaba.com